Mustaqbal Says Lack of 'Decisive Stances' by Govt. Encouraging Syrian Violations
Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday slammed the latest “violations by the Syrian regime’s army against Lebanon’s northern and eastern border areas,” rejecting what it called the Syrian army’s “arrogance towards Lebanon and its security forces and citizens.”
In a statement issued after its weekly meeting, the bloc blamed “the Syrian regime’s persistent violations” on the Lebanese state’s failure to take “decisive stances towards these continuous breaches.”
“What further aggravates the situation is the condemned stance taken by the Syrian ambassador (Ali Abdul Karim Ali) after his meeting with the Lebanese foreign minister (Adnan Mansour), as it appeared that Syria’s envoy visited the foreign ministry to complain against Lebanon rather than to hear a warning from Lebanese authorities in line with the international laws and diplomatic norms,” the bloc added.
Around 20 Syrian soldiers briefly kidnapped two members of Lebanon’s General Security on Monday after infiltrating the northern region of Wadi Khaled and firing at their offices in the area of al-Buqaiaa, media reports said.
A General Security communiqué said, however, that the Syrian army was pursing gunmen who had fired a rocket into the Syrian emigration and passports center near the border, wounding two officers.
President Michel Suleiman and Premier Najib Miqati condemned the incident, describing it as a violation of Lebanese sovereignty and international law.
Following talks with Mansour, Ali hoped on Tuesday that Lebanese authorities would exert further efforts in controlling the border.
“When border guards are targeted or Syrian territories are targeted by fire from the Lebanese side, then the solution should come through coordination between the two countries” to prevent the recurrence of such incidents, Ali said.
The Syrian ambassador urged not to blow the reaction to any incident out of proportion “so that it doesn’t reflect negatively on either side.”
Mansour “was keen on stressing the continued coordination between the two leaderships and the involved agencies and is optimistic with the results of this coordination either in terms of controlling the border or preventing arms smuggling and the infiltration of gunmen,” Ali told reporters.
Al-Mustaqbal bloc also criticized an announcement made earlier in the day by Ahmed Jibril, head of the pro-Syria Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command.
Jibril said Hizbullah and Iran will fight alongside the Syrian regime if it is attacked by foreign forces.
In the event of "a foreign attack, we discussed with our brothers (in the Syrian regime), with (Hizbullah chief) Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and our brothers in Iran, we will be part of this battle," said Jibril.
He also noted that Nasrallah "said he would join this battle, in the event of a foreign attack" on Syria.
Al-Mustaqbal bloc said “these remarks blatantly contradict with what has been agreed on in the latest dialogue session regarding keeping Lebanon away from the policies of regional and international axes.”
Turning to the latest Israeli violations against Lebanon, the bloc condemned Israel’s “persistent violations of the Lebanese sovereignty and international resolutions, especially (U.N. Security Council) Resolution 1701” that ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah.
Israeli aircraft on Monday destroyed a spy device it was using to monitor a Hizbullah communications network in south Lebanon after it was found by the group.
"The enemy today destroyed an espionage apparatus latched onto a communications network belonging to the resistance," in the Zahrani region, Hizbullah said in a statement.
On Friday, Israeli soldiers kidnapped a young Lebanese shepherd from the Marj al-Teiss area in the occupied Shebaa Farms. He was freed on Saturday.
The bloc said the latest incidents “prove that the enemy has not stopped its violations against Lebanon and its territory, which requires all Lebanese to pay attention to the seriousness of these hostile practices and intentions and the need to confront them through strengthening national unity.”
The bloc said national unity would be fortified through “shifting the responsibility of defending Lebanon and confronting the Israeli enemy to the Lebanese state and its institutions and through putting all capabilities at its disposal.”
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://cdn.naharnet.com/stories/en/45386 |